This section provides background information related to the present disclosure and is not necessarily prior art.
Fixtures are commonly used for securing a workpiece during a machining operation. For example, a fixture may be used to hold a drill bit to sharpen the tip of the drill bit. Conventional fixtures for holding drill bits for sharpening operations must be realigned relative to a sharpening tool for drill bits having different diameters. That is, if drill bits of different diameters are to be sharpened, an operator must realign a conventional fixture relative to the sharpening tool for each drill bit diameter. Such repeated realignment of the fixture consumes substantial amounts of time, which substantially increases costs associated with sharpening numerous drill bits of a variety of different diameters.
The present disclosure provides a fixture that can hold drill bits (or other workpieces) of various diameters without having to realign the fixture relative to the sharpening tool for each diameter. That is, the fixture of the present disclosure can hold a drill bit having a first diameter for a sharpening operation before and/or after holding another drill bit having a second diameter for a sharpening operation without having to realign the fixture relative to the sharpening tool to account for the difference between the first and second diameters. Such capability can save substantial amounts of time, money and resources for a user that is sharpening many drill bits of various diameters.